The box office has largely been on the up and up since the beginning of the year, with smash hits like The Batman, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Uncharted, The Lost City, Sing 2, and Scream all doing strong numbers, so we can forgive a quiet weekend every now and again.
Of course, the main reason for the holding pattern is because no studio in Hollywood wants to shoot themselves in the foot by placing its latest wide release directly before Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which is poised to annihilate the competition when it begins rolling out next week.
As a result, the complexion of the chart is much the same as it was seven days ago, with DreamWorks Animation’s The Bad Guys poised to win out with a second frame in the $14 million range. Jeff Fowler’s Sonic sequel will take second once again, while Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore suffers another steep drop to an estimated three-day haul of just $7.5 million.
All told, the Top 10 is set to bring in a combined $64 million from Friday through to Sunday, a 33% drop from last week. However, that’s roughly a third of what Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is projected to hit in its opening three days, with the most conservative of estimates still putting Sam Raimi’s superhero spectacular at around $185 million.
As mentioned earlier, one middling weekend isn’t too bad in the grand scheme of things, with Marvel once more riding to the rescue to give business a significant shot in the arm.
